Follow My Steps
by Sassy Aloo
Summary: Sora watches Zack practice some kata. Some musing on his character. Request from Jediempress.


**Warnings:**Me contemplating on Sora's character. God help us.

**Pairings:** However you want to take it.

**Sassy's Note:** Got sick of doing the work I'm actually supposed to do, so I threw this together for Jedi. Also, I know very little about kata so if something's wrong, just pretend I know what I'm talking about.

**Follow My Steps**

Sora let his eyes drift over the man as he moved in the graceful steps he did every day, a katana held aloft in his hands. Every move of his muscle was perfectly controlled and steady. Not even his eyes wavered as he moved about in his ritual. It was almost mesmerizing.

It was a few minutes before Zack had finished his routine steps and let his sword drop with a sigh. He stood up straight and rolled his shoulders with a small grin on his face. That always relaxed him. With a sparkle in his eyes, he turned to the boy watching him and waved.

"What's up?" Zack asked, sheathing the katana and tapping it against his shoulder.

Sora grinned too and shrugged, kicking his legs against the wall he was sitting on. "Bored. Decided to watch you."

Zacks eyebrow rose. "Am I that interesting?"

"The way you practice is."

"What? This?" He held up the katana. Sora nodded. "Nothing too interesting about it."

"I looks like you're dancing," the brunet commented. Zack laughed.

"You could say that. It's called kata."

"Kata?"

"Yep. It's a way to practice fighting without actually fighting anyone."

"Does it work?" Sora asked, looking interested.

The black-haired man shrugged. "I dunno. It's meditative though, and it's always helped me relive stress."

"It looks hard…"

"No harder than learning a Firaga spell or a new combo on your Keyblade, kiddo."

They were silent for a beat. Sora tilted his head to the side as if considering something. Zack regarded the boy with a mild curiosity himself. Sora was still Sora, but over the past few months, everyone could see a definite change in him. This was no real surprise for them; Sora had a lot of maturing to do, but he seemed to question the strangest things.

He reminded Zack of a young Cloud, actually.

"Where did you learn kata?" Sora asked. "When you were in SOLDIER?"

"Yeah."

"What other stuff did you learn?"

"Oh, lots of stuff. Some meditative forms of martial arts, like kata, how to use different weapons, and things like that. ShinRa wanted their SOLDIERs trained for just about anything."

"So…" Sora looked thoughtful. "Cloud knows all of this too?"

"Maybe not all, but most of it at least."

"Leon went to military school, too…"

"Yeah. He knows it too."

For some reason, this made Sora's forehead crease. The brunet boy looked at the ground, and Zack could practically see the wheels in his head turning. He took a few steps toward the wall he was seated on.

"What's up, kid?"

The boy bit his lip. "Just thinking."

"About what? You look upset."

"I'm not… upset. I just wonder about things."

"Like what?" Zack leaned against the wall and glanced up at his younger companion.

"Well…" Sora looked a bit embarrassed, but he and Zack had long since formed an easy companionship. Sora tended to run to Zack just as much as he did to Riku these days when he had a problem.

"Yes?" Zack prodded, giving the brunet's leg a little nudge with his elbow.

"It's just... I'm a Keyblade Master and all, but I was thinking one day, and… that's all I can do, ya know?"

"Huh?" Zack blinked at him.

"Well… you guys are all knowledgeable in different kinds of fighting, but I just know how to swing a Keyblade around."

"You must be swinging it around right," the older man said with an attempt at humor. "You've saved Kingdom Hearts twice."

"Yeah, but," Sora started, rubbing the back of his hand, "Even Riku knows more than just how to use a Keyblade." He shifted around uncomfortable. "It's not that I'm jealous… I just feel like I should know more than I do to have saved the worlds."

"Twice," Zack put in.

"… yeah."

The black-haired man laughed lightly. "Feeling a bit put out, huh? Well, if you want, I can teach you."

Sora's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. It might come in handy one day for you."

"Sweet!!"

Zack eyed the boy in amusement as he hopped off the wall. "Can we start now?" he asked excitedly. Well, that was the Sora everyone knew and loved.

"Sure. Where do you want to start?"

"GUNS!!"

"Uhm… no. No guns right now…"

"Hee, just kidding. How about you teach me that kata-thing you were doing?"

Zack grinned and tossed the katana to Sora.

"Follow my steps."

-end-

**Sassy:** Pointless? Probably, but I've been wanting an excuse to muse. Don't you think it's funny that Sora did exactly what Leon and Cloud did – twice – without any of the training those two had? I mean, I know it's Disney, but it's also Squeenix. I just always thought it strange. Kind of a blow to their pride, you know? Anyway, Jedi asked so I did. Sorry if it's a bit late, luv. Physics can go to HELL.

Just so you all know, I like to think of the very end as… foreshadowing… for something I'll be doing soon. cackles


End file.
